Being compared to Dickens? O.K. for a first-time novelist

‘The Nix,’ a social satire by Nathan Hill, has admirers in high places

BY ALEXANDRA ALTERCULTURE

Nathan Hill’s literary career almost ended before it started.
Like so many optimistic young M.F.A. graduates, Mr. Hill moved to New York City in his 20s with a hard drive full of short stories, hoping to land an agent and a publisher.
Perhaps...